And, void of modesty and thought, She follows Bibo's endless draught. Through the soft sex again she ranges ; As youth, caprice, or fashion, changes. Fair Alma, careless and ferene,
In Fanny's (prightly eyes is seen ;
While they diffuse their infant beams, Themselves not conscious of their flames. Again fair Alma fits confest
On Florimel's experter breast; When she the rising figh constrains, And by concealing fpeaks her pains. In Cynthia's neck fair Alma glows, When the vain thing her jewels fhows: When Jenny's ftays are newly lac'd, Fair Alma plays about her waist ; And when the fwelling hoop sustains The rich brocade, fair Alma deigns Into that lower space to enter, Of the large round herself the centre.
Again that fingle limb or feature (Such is the cogent force of nature), Which most did Alma's passion move In the first object of her love, For ever will be found confeft, And printed on the amorous breast. O Abelard, ill-fated youth, Thy tale will justify this truth: But well I weet, thy cruel wrong Adorns a nobler poet's fong.
Dan Pope, for thy misfortune griev'd, With kind concern and fkill has weav'd A filken web; and ne'er fhall fade Its colours; gently has he laid The mantle o'er thy fad distress:
And Venus fhall the texture blefs. He o'er the weeping nun has drawn Such artful folds of facred lawn; That love, with equal grief and pride, Shall fee the crime he ftrives to hide; And, foftly drawing back the veil, The God fhall to his votaries tell
Each conscious tear, each blushing grace, That deck'd dear Eloifa's face.
Happy the poet, bleft the lays,
Which Buckingham has deign'd to praise ! Next, Dick, as youth and habit fways,
A hundred gambols Alma plays. If, whilst a boy, Jack ran from school, Fond of his hunting-horn and pole; Though gout and age his fpeed detain, Old John halloos his hounds again : By his fire fide he starts the hare; And turns her in his wicker-chair: His feet, however lame, you find, the better of his mind.
If, while the mind was in her leg,
The dance affected nimble Peg;
Old Madge, bewitch'd at fixty-one,
Calls for Green Sleeves, and Jumping Joan.
From Lincoln's-inn, to Goldfmith's-hall,. All Christmas long away fhe trudges; Trips it with prentices and judges: In vain her children urge her ftay; And age or palley bar the way. But, if thofe images prevail Which whilom did affect the tail, She still renews the ancient fcene, - Forgets the forty years between :
Aukwardly gay, and oddly merry,
Her fcarf pale pink, her head-knot cherry ;
O'er-heated with ideal rage,
She cheats her fon, to wed her page.
If Alma, whilft the man was young,
Slipp'd up too foon into his tongue: Pleas'd with his own fantastic skill, He lets that weapon ne'er lie ftill. On any point if you difpute;
Depend upon it, he'll confute ::
Change fides; and you increase your pain`; For he 'll confute you back again.
For one may speak with Tully's tongue; Yet all the while be in the wrong.
And 'tis remarkable that they
Talk moft, who have the least to say. Your dainty speakers have the curse, To plead bad caufes down to worse : As dames, who native beauty want, Still uglier look, the more they paint.
"Again: if in the female fex
"Alma fhould on this member fix
(A cruel and a defperate cafe,
From which heaven fhield my lovely laís !);
For evermore all care is vain,
That would bring Alma down again.
As, in habitual gout or stone,
The only thing that can be done,
Is to correct your drink and diet, And keep the inward foe in quiet; ≥ So, if for any fins of ours
* Or our forefathers, higher powers, Severe though just, afflict our life With that prime ill, a talking wife;
"..Till death fhall bring the kind relief,
We must be patient, or be deaf.
You know a certain lady, Dick, Who faw me when I laft was fick : : She kindly talk'd, at least three hours, Of plastic forms, and mental powers; > Defcrib'd our pre-existing station Before this vile terrene creation;
And, left. I-fhould be weary'd, madam, To cut things fhort, came down to Adam; From whence, as faft as fhe was able,
She drowns the world, and builds up Babel : Through Syria, Perfia, Greece, she goes; And takes the Romans in the clofe.
But we'll defcant on general nature: This is a fyftem, not a fatire.
Turn we this globe; and let us fee How different nations disagree
In what we wear, or eat and drink ; Nay, Dick, perhaps in what we think. In water as you smell and tafte
The foils through which it rose and past; In Alma's manners you may read The place where she was born and bred.
One people from their swaddling bands Releas'd their infants' feet and hands: Here Alma to these limbs was brought; And Sparta's offspring kick'd and fought. Another taught their babes to talk, Ere they could yet in go-carts walk : There Alma fettled in the tongue : And orators from Athens fprung.
Obferve but in these neighbouring lands
The different use of mouths and hands;
As men repos'd their various hopes, In battles these, and those in tropes.
In Britain's ifles, as Heylin notes, The ladies trip in petticoats;
Which, for the honour of their nation, They quit but on fome great occafion.
Men there in breeches clad you view : They claim that garment as their due. In Turkey the reverse appears; Long coats the haughty husband wears; And greets his wife with angry fpeeches,
If the be feen without her breeches.
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